Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-12-20DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2296662
Tamika Odum, Gregory T. Kordsmeier
{"title":"Navigating the Age of Crisis: Exploring the Pathway to Engaged Pedagogy for the Transformative Learning Environment","authors":"Tamika Odum, Gregory T. Kordsmeier","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2296662","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2296662","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138994252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-12-20DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2293980
Matthew H. McLeskey, Laura Obernesser
{"title":"Strategies for the Unequal Distribution of Emotional Labor in Graduate Student and Contingent Teaching","authors":"Matthew H. McLeskey, Laura Obernesser","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2293980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2293980","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Scholarship on teaching and learning (SoTL) shows how caring for students proves crucial to effective college teaching. Providing mentorship to undergraduates in and outside the classroom can require ample emotional labor, especially for graduate-student and adjunct instructors. Even though graduate students and contingent faculty are at a structural disadvantage, they have profound influence over undergraduate students, particularly at large institutions where undergraduates may encounter them and look to them for emotional support and professional mentorship more than tenure-track faculty. For example, female and minority instructors disproportionately take on unpaid emotional labor in students’ personal and professional lives related to courses focusing on issues of structural inequality that may require them to mentor and manage student emotions more than those in more secure positions. This can amplify the stress, competition, and uncertainty of graduate study and employment. Consequently, this essay focuses on strategies—boundary maintenance, time strategies, and managed expectations—to mitigate the unequal impact of this emotional labor and create more equitable pedagogical practices.","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139170133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2293977
Farrah Gafford Cambrice
{"title":"Reimagining HBCU Sociology in the Post Floyd-Era","authors":"Farrah Gafford Cambrice","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2293977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2293977","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138974710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-12-11DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2292231
Emily Lynn Tingle, Megan Y. Phillips, Kaitlyn Paige Hall
{"title":"A Critical Reflection of the Habitus and Its Potential for the Polarized Classroom","authors":"Emily Lynn Tingle, Megan Y. Phillips, Kaitlyn Paige Hall","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2292231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2292231","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138981806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-12-10DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2291368
Angela M. Adkins
{"title":"Vignettes for Social Justice Learning","authors":"Angela M. Adkins","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2291368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2291368","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138982859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-12-05DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2283627
Sarah McGill Brown
{"title":"Community-Engaged Field Trips: An Accessible Technique for Community-Based Learning in an Era of Education Austerity","authors":"Sarah McGill Brown","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2283627","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2283627","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138599623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-11-30DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2285321
Carly Elizabeth Schall
{"title":"Course Co-creation: On the Transformative Power of Letting Go of Power","authors":"Carly Elizabeth Schall","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2285321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2285321","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This critical commentary describes the author’s experience with a course-co-creation process inspired by the popular education approach championed by Paulo Freire and bell hooks in a course on race and ethnicity in America. This process ceded control over certain parts of both the content and form of the class to students, who were positioned as experts in their own lives and meaningful contributors to knowledge about the racial order of the United States. The author found that this process increased students’ sense of mattering in the classroom and decentered her own privileged experience without sacrificing academic or intellectual rigor. However, there are limitations and difficulties with the process, which are outlined here with suggestions on how to overcome them.","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139204219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-11-20DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2283629
Rebecca D. Christensen
{"title":"Sociology in Action: The Experiential Pedagogy of Project Community","authors":"Rebecca D. Christensen","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2283629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2283629","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Established by student activists in the 1960s, Project Community in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, is one of the longest-running community-engaged learning programs in the country. Community-engaged learning courses like Project Community have been identified by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) as a high-impact educational practice because they allow for simultaneous learning in the classroom and community (AAC&U 2022). This paper explores how Project Community utilizes various pedagogical approaches grounded in liberatory and social justice education to provide U-M students with the opportunity to learn how to engage in mutually beneficial, respectful, and ethical relationships with community members. The structure of this two-course sequence is described and examples of experiential activities are provided so that instructors can gain insights into how students can apply their sociological lens to real world experiences. Data from teaching evaluations and post-course surveys from Fall 2019–2022 are included to explore how Project Community has increased students’ awareness of their positionality in society, deepened their understanding of social inequalities, and strengthened their commitment to social responsibility.","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139257745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-11-20DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2283723
Nicolas P. Simon, Emma James Burke, Tyler Fairbanks
{"title":"Renewable Assignments: Or How to Use OER-Enabled Pedagogy to Respond to Generation Z’s Educational Needs","authors":"Nicolas P. Simon, Emma James Burke, Tyler Fairbanks","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2283723","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2283723","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The new generation of students, Generation Z students, have different expectations of their education. They value inclusivity, social consciousness, and hands-on learning experiences. To meet their expectations, we argue that educators should use renewable assignments. These assignments add value beyond the course by creating Open Educational Resources (OER), openly licensed with the 5R: retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. In this article, we first present renewable assignments, OER-enabled pedagogy, the assignments that students used to develop openly licensed educational material and the products they created. Then, we offer step-by-step guidance on crafting effective renewable assignments. Finally, the two students who coauthored this paper examine how OER-enabled pedagogy follows the learning skills of Generation Z: independence, collaboration, and engagement.","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139256769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sociological FocusPub Date : 2023-11-19DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2023.2283726
Colleen E. Wynn, Elizabeth Ziff, Allison H. Snyder
{"title":"“It’s a Process:” How Faculty Develop and Adopt Empathetic Practices","authors":"Colleen E. Wynn, Elizabeth Ziff, Allison H. Snyder","doi":"10.1080/00380237.2023.2283726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2023.2283726","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Empathy and empathetic classroom practices are a pillar of good pedagogy. These approaches create a learning environment that is adaptable and supportive for all. Building on a small but growing body of literature on the role of empathy in higher education, we explore the genesis of how faculty, across a range of disciplines, began to incorporate empathetic practices into their teaching. Our data come from interviews with 29 faculty members collected between the Spring of 2021 and the Spring of 2022. Our findings indicate that some faculty trace their empathetic practices back to their own educator models, or to their upbringing, while others espouse that their empathy is “naturally” occurring, and still others have had experiences in the classroom that led them to change their pedagogical approach to be more empathetic. Understanding how faculty learn about and implement empathy is important for sociologists because empathy is socially constructed. Empathy has been shown to help students embrace difficult content and have tough conversations. Empathy also helps students connect to faculty and improves student retention.","PeriodicalId":39368,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Focus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139259888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}